Need advice/1200 miles in car with 9mo old

[Kestrel]

We are first-time parents, making our first big trip with 9 mo old DS.

Any and all pointers welcome, but in particular - how can we make it that far in a car without going nuts??????

(Going from near the Washington/Canada boarder to southern California)

[mom2binsd]

No problem, I did 1800 miles by myself with a 3 year old and 4 month old...

If you're nursing it will change things a little as you won't be able to nurse and keep driving (unless you want to do the crazy "hang your boobs over the baby while driving"- NOT Recommended as it's illegal!)...if bottle feeding get a bottle warmer if your DC likes his bottle warm....then you can climb in the back seat and feed while driving if necessary.

My kids tolerated long stretches in their seats...and if he's sleeping KEEP DRIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At that age they are pretty easy to amuse, if he likes any particular DVD bring along a portable DVD player for him to watch. Brush up on lots of songs to sing him.

Make sure nothing he's wearing has any snaps on his back etc...

Bring along snacks/cooler for yourselves so you won't have to stop if you don't need to.

[MoJo]

When we travelled when our LO was younger than that, I sat in the back with her to keep her entertained, and I pumped into a bottle that she could drink while still strapped in (I was never really able to pump ahead for more than one feeding).

Some people swear by night driving, but neither my DH nor I like to drive at night, and even DD fusses more at night because she can't see us.

Hope you have a safe and successful trip!

[sunshine873]

We did 1100 miles with a 7 month old. It's actually a fairly easy time. Once they get older, I think it will be harder to keep them entertained! :)

The best advice I can give you is: if baby is sleeping, keep driving!!! Like PPs said, have snacks for yourself so you only have to stop for gas/bathroom/baby breaks. And we rolled each of those stops all together. Every time we stopped we did everything at that one stop. The less in/out of the car seat the better. We were traveling with our 2 dogs too, so we did a lot of gas stops where we would gas up the car, both go to the bathroom and then find a nice, open grassy spot where we laid out a blanket, had a picnic, let the dogs run and baby could stretch out a bit.

Also, we broke the drive up into 2 days. Each day DD hit a point where she was DONE and just wanted out of the carseat. So on day one, that's when we stopped for the night. It was about halfway, so it worked out well. On day two, we were about 2 hours from our destination, so we stopped for dinner at a sit-down family restaurant. She got out of her seat, had a bottle and played with us for a little while. Then she was ready to get back in the car and finish out the trip.

Have various toys for DC and give one at a time. Every time you give a new toy, take the other one away. That way it keeps things exciting and new.

Good luck!

[sste]

As pp mentioned we concentrated the driving when the baby was sleeping or within 2 hours of a nap window. So, I think we left for our trip at 4pm and then drove until midnight with the baby falling asleep between 6-7. We hung out in the morning and started driving again within an hour of naptime. Then same nighttime schedule of driving. Just make sure for safety reasons that the driver is a night owl.

[swrc00]

When DS was this age we went on a few road trips. I found that having a new toy that he had never seen to hand to him was helpful. I bought four or five at a consignment store. I also found he would tolerate being in the carseat longer in a convertible seat compared to the infant bucket seat.